Week Three- Wednesday Tidings

Thank goodness for air conditioning this week! Whew! By request, I am going to send this out earlier to give you time to plan your Friday. This week I have stopped into a few classrooms and dropped off some technology for you to try and let me know what you think. Don't feel bad if you aren't comfortable with it or if you aren't sure which direction you want to take. I will do my best to accommodate your ideas for classroom use and will share some ideas that I have too. 

I have a set of 'clickers' for the Promethean Boards that you can try, a document camera, a digital camera, a microphone and two digital video cameras you can use at any time. Stop in if you want them or I can bring them to your classroom and help you with set up. 

Friday, August 31 Schedule: (btw- you are all too kind for not correcting me last week...)

• No Staff

Friday, September 7 Schedule: 

• School in session.

Friday, September 14 Schedule: 

• Need to work into schedule: Review Write to Learn software and changes with Mrs. Boyd, Mrs. Lessman, Ms. Eggers, and Ms. Weinrich for 2012- 13 School Year
• Blogger follow-up (There are teachers using this in their classrooms- if you are interested in trying it too, let me know!) 
• Open

Please review the sheet I handed to you at the first in-service meeting and let me know what you are interested in. I would like to do a follow up for Blogger and Sites, but there is a lot more Search tools that I would like to share with you too. 

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1) Interactive Timeline Builder via http://www.myhistro.com (there's an iPad app too!) By signing up for free, you can create your own timeline or have students create an interactive timeline. There are a lot of options beyond just social studies for this too. Historical fiction or non-fiction timelines could also be created. After signing up, you will be asked to create your first even. Each event works alone and you need to create a "story" to make the actual timeline. This also has collaborative aspects and sharing possibilities. It is probably best for MS and up. 

2) Math Dictionary via http://www.webquest.hawaii.edu/kahihi/mathdictionary/ This is just what it says it is... a math dictionary. It may be good for Math-related vocabulary terms as there are pictures for each term. You can also use this during a webquest to give students background information. 

3) Video Talks/ Lectures via http://keentalks.com Somewhat like Khan academy, Keen talks has more of a thought-provoking intention. One of their tag lines is "food for thought" and I think this may be something to show upper elementary/ MS/ HS students (depending on content) to get them to think critically about may perspectives. This one on Women's Intuition is rather interesting: http://keentalks.com/womens-intuition-other-fairy-tales/ 

4) App Friday via http://www.facebook.com/AppFriday If you are one of those on Facebook, here is a place to 'like' so that you can see what some of the free apps are on Friday. Check it out! 

5) Play the Election via http://education.randmcnally.com I won't give you a political opinion (yet), but there are a great ideas to teach the upcoming Presidential Election, ways for students to compete in essay contests, and other resources to explore.

6) Common Core Sample Questions As you know, grades 3-8 and 11 will participate in the Benchmark/ Growth Model Pilot testing four times this year. Each test for each grade will consist of 32 Reading and 40 Math questions. Although SD has not released sample questions, some other states have and I wanted to share those online resources with you.

http://www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes#6 

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/common-core-sample-questions/ (bottom of page)

South Dakota is part of the Smarter Balanced Consortium and there are some examples and other information on the assessment:  http://www.smarterbalanced.org/smarter-balanced-assessments/  

Also, if you are an iPad user, I'd recommend downloading the Common Core App as an easy to read/ find/ manage the somewhat cumbersome inch-think printout of your Math or Reading standards. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/common-core-standards/id439424555?mt=8 

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Basic Sites Tutorial

Tomorrow we will go through what the above video is talking about at 11:00- Noon.

Pending interest, we can continue on to the next video in the upcoming weeks too.

First Week of School- Check!

Wow! What a great first week of school!

I am looking into doing some rotating with technology that we have access to already. There are a set of iPods already in one classroom to give a try, but there are five extras in my office, though, ready to go with many apps for the first taker! And I will gladly help you integrate them or add content, if you would like. 

There is a document projector and a set of 'clickers' that teachers are willing to share for a trial run too. Let's try something new and see what happens, if it doesn't work for you- that's ok! We can try something else. Also, I have two video cameras, a still frame digital camera and a microphone in my office to loan out at any time. 

Though reticent to even ask, those of you that have iPads, I would also like you to think about some sharing. I have found some great apps that I want to try in specific classrooms, but we need to loan out iPads for one or two class periods. It will take me a few minutes to load the apps (using layering- not changing ANYTHING on your iPad, just adding) before the teacher borrows them, but I will make sure they are returned that day. And I will be that contact point ensuring return. 

Again, this will be on my blog at:  http://teachertechweekly.blogspot.com/  

Friday, September 24th's Schedule: 

9:00 Meet with Elementary Staff on Webmail (handout attached, please print if you are interested in taking notes)

9:30 to 10:30 Meet in Mr. Gudmundson's Room on setting up Blogger (if you plan to attend, make sure you let me know today so that I can reset your Google ID ASAP!) 

11:00 Meet in Mrs. Boyd's Room to set up Google Site (again, if you plan to attend, make sure you let me know today so that I can reset your Google ID ASAP!)

Next Week: No Staff 

1) Texting Parents via http://www.textem.net or http://text4freeonline.com 

I know many of you have asked parents to give you the most preferred method of contact and many said text. Both of the above seem like viable options for texting parents and not using your personal cell phone to text. I have only texted my husband while trying the service and it does send anonymously, so make sure to preface your text with your name. 

2) Crazy Power Point! http://prezi.com/ 

Many have used this, but if you haven't... check this out! Create your own FREE account to make a Prezi, which is a very fun, zooming, interactive type of multimedia presentation. I suggest, rather than assigning a PowerPoint, assign the generic 'multimedia presentation' and add Prezi to the list for kids. It has recently gone through some great updates allowing for 3D Backgrounds and a feel more like Keynote or PPT. There is also a Prezi app for the iPad that allows some basic editing features and viewing. Also, despite Prezi being online and having synchronous/ asynchronous collaborative capabilities, online viewing capabilities you can save and download your Prezi to your iPad/ iPod or your computer's desktop for offline viewing. 

3) Audio Recording via http://soundation.com or http://soundcloud.com 

This could be a lot of fun to use making commercials, news recordings or podcasts as a way for students to present what they learned back to you and the rest of the class. I used Aviary in the past, but the sounds of it is that Aviary will soon be a paid service... so, I suggest the two above. 

4) Teaching History via http://teachinghistory.org 

You may already frequent this site, but when I was searching for some resources this week, I found this site. It is a great place for Elementary through High School Social Studies resources and ideas. 

5) Graphing Math Functions with Google Search  (Click title for link to original blog post) 

I will let the blog article speak for itself... It may be a way for students to check their work in the future or just something cool, too. 

".... the introduction of graphing functionality on Google. Now you can plot mathematical functions right on the search result page. Just type in a function and you’ll see an interactive graph on the top of the search results page.

You can zoom in and out and pan across the plane to explore the function in more detail. You can also draw multiple functions by separating them with commas. This feature covers an extensive range of single variable functions including trigonometric, exponential, logarithmic and their compositions, and is available in modern browsers."

Use Better Searches for Better Results- Handout

Use Better Searches for Better Results 

**Adapted from Google Teacher Workshop Materials

“ “ Exact Phrase in Quotes: Search for an exact phrase.

What to type: “one small step for man”

What you’ll get: results that include the exact phrase “one small step for man”

- Excluded Words: Excludes certain words or phrases from your search.

            What to type: bass –fishing

            What you’ll get: results about bass that aren’t related to fishing

OR Multiple Words: Searches for webpages that include either word

            What to type: vacation London OR Paris

            What you’ll get: results with “vacation” and either “London” or “Paris”

… Numerical Ranges: Searches for a range of numbers (works with dates too)

            What to type: Willie Mays 1950… 1960

            What you’ll get: Results about Willie Mays during this time period

site:  Site Specific Search: Searches only particular websites

            What to type: Common core site:edu

            What you’ll get: References to common core found on .edu websites

After going to ‘Google’ and typing your term in the search bar, look on left side bar next to results and click on “Show Search Tools” below the search narrowing links.

Timely information: Click on a time range to determine the parameters of when the information you request was published.

Images Sites: You can search only sites with images to find visual aids for class with information.

Related Searches: Not sure what you could search related to your topic? Click on this to get a list.

Dictionary: Great for vocab and defining difficult terms and getting visual aids immediately.

Nearby: Has someone nearby our location provided information on this topic?

Translated Foreign Pages:  Doing research? Google will search sites in other languages for you too!

After going to ‘Google’ and typing in your term in the search bar, a “gear” will appear on the upper right hand corner of your search results. You can click on this “gear” to get to advanced search and start to look for just PowerPoints, PDFs or different creative commons options as well. Please let me know if you would like to learn more. Happy Searching!

Stuck?

Seth Godin, the author of 12 best-selling and inspiring novels, sometimes just says it right.

Stuck?

It might not be because you can't find the right answer.

It's almost certainly because you're asking the wrong question.

The more aggressively you redefine the problem, the more likely it is you're going to solve it.

The most successful people I know got that way by ignoring the race to find the elusive, there's-only-one-and-no-one-has-found-it right answer and instead had the guts to look at the infinite landscape of choices and pick a better problem instead.

(If you are looking for the Tech Weekly email look to the left and click on the title of the article you want.)

This year will be great!

After visiting with each group and getting some ideas from you, I know that this year will be great! As promised, I will attempt to only send one mass email to everybody each week. Below is my Tech PD Schedule for next Friday. If you would like to join one of these meetings, but it is not your level or content area, feel free to let me know. 

Tech PD Schedule for Friday, August 24:

9:00 Meet with Elementary about email basics

9:30 to 10:30 Meet with HS English about Blogger in Mr. Gudmundson's Room

Here are some places to go check out this week: 

1) http://noredink.com/ No Red Ink is a site to improve grammar and writing skills and is aimed more MS/ HS. It is still very new right now, but you create a FREE account and have your students create a FREE account as well. The student selects their favorite hobbies and interests and creates practice grammar sentences based on their interests. If they get to higher levels, they can even link it with Facebook and put their friends' names in the sentences. If you are interested in trying this out, let me know and I will be glad to help!

2) http://www.sharemylesson.com/ I recently found this and although you have to create an account, and subsequently get emails from the site, it is full of resources for every level and every content area! You can download Common Core, Standards-based lessons in pdf form and some have supplemental materials and video links as well. 

3) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inkflow-think-visually!/id519524685?mt=8 Inkflow: Think Visually! is an app that allows you to draw and write with your fingers on the iPad and save a Snapshot, email, export to a jpeg or pdf, and save! I think this may have applications for you as a teacher trying to illustrate a concept or if you allow students to use it as well. 

4) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/math-kid/id465213584?mt=8 Math Kid  is a great app for quick math facts! It is more for lower elementary with just addition and subtraction problems. 

5) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/type-on-pdf-free/id468064548?mt=8 Type on PDF FREE is an app for when you receive a PDF on your iPad email and want to write on it. You will hold on the PDF icon in the email and select to 'Type on PDF'. You can then email that back to yourself. 

Below is a link to my first attempt at a tutorial. As I said, I have helped refresh a few people's memory on setting up group contact lists in webmail. This is a short video to help you out, but if you would like more help, let me know. 

http://screencast.com/t/k2G9HKZ5 

If you like the above tutorial's format, you can use this screen capture option too! Go to www.jingproject.com and download the program. You can do snapshots/ screen capture still frames or short (under 5 minute)  movies with this program. It is for Mac or Windows users. 

Have a great first week! 

Samantha

Dropbox Ideas, Videos, and Questions Answered

I have had a few questions about how to set up a file management system to submit student work to a teacher for grading. I have successfully used Dropbox integrated with dropitto.me to turn in student work. It also works well with the iPad, but you do not need an iPad to correct the student submissions.

Dropbox can also be used to upload your own documents and share them from one computer to another. The video below talks about this more about the private, not educational application. Go to www.dropbox.com to download the app to your computer (it does not matter if your computer is a Mac or Windows or if you are using your iPad/ iPod Touch/ iPhone or Android phone it will all be compatible). 

Like most things that I am going to show this year, there are other ways to do this. This is just one way and if you think it would work for you, I will be happy to help you set it up.

 

The video above was produced by Dropbox and gives you the overview of the product. You are given 2GB of free space to store information, which is a good amount to work with for most people. It probably wouldn't be enough for a major backup source, but for student file submissions it will work well. You can also delete old submissions at the end of the semester or year.



The second video was produced to show the way DropBox and dropitto.me work together. Here is where there is one downfall for our small school. Unfortunately, the work submitted through dropitto.me to your dropbox will appear in a folder called "DROPitTOme". They will not be sorted. To combat this, I had students title assignments with the assignment name and then the student last name. For example: TermPaperWalder or OutlineWalder

Here is what my folder looks like:

You can sort them after they are submitted into folders. As you can see, on the top of the list there is a place to make a new folder. It may take a little time though, which is a downfall.



Above is one last video about setting up your dropitto.me account, but remember, you do not have to do this all by yourself. I am here to help. Email me or stop in and I will help at any time.

Welcome back! Week One

The summer ended quickly and soon we will be back to the classroom. I have been given a wonderful opportunity to be able to come into your classroom to help with technology integration. Next week at in-service I will have some time to visit with each group (Elem, MS, and HS) about what you would like me to do for you this year and I am excited to hear about your ideas. 

So, to start of the year, here are a few technology ideas for you: 

Every email I send out or handout I give out at any in-service will be archived at my blog. Here is the link: http://teachertechweekly.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/ 

The fun math facts listed here and each fact has a problem, diagram or short explanation of a fun math fact. This may be a good opener for class and most can be adapted for upper elementary through high school. 

http://www.mathlanding.org/
Math landing is a great K-6 database of math lesson plans and most of these plans you could find through other places on the internet, but this site has them all stored for you to search.
http://visual.ly/
If you like Pinterest, you will like this website. Almost all of the great graphics you pin are cataloged here and you can even make your own! You could find a great graph or chart to display population, election coverage or current events information in visual format is a great way to target visual learners. You could also take your own to teach many graphic concepts.

http://scistarter.com/
Sci Starter is a database of science projects/ lessons that are categorized by topic, but you can search by key terms as well. You can also search by topics that are free/ low cost, have teaching materials available or feature projects.
http://freemusicarchive.org/
Napster and Limewire are long gone and it is hard to justify spending money on music to narrate a school project. This archive will give you a great place to download a genre-searchable database of music.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/studyblue-flashcards/id323887414?mt=8 

"STUDYBLUE Flashcards" iPad/ iPod Touch app is a FREE flashcard app that requires an account, but it can be created after you download the app. Always on the lookout for great flashcard apps, this one heads to to the top of the list because of the collaboration element. For lower grades, it might be teachers creating the flashcards and sharing or upper grades, the students split the material and collaborate for a great review tool. 

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/using-i-and-me/id493067783?mt=8 

"Using I and Me" is a great app for iPad/ iPod Touch users with pre-made flashcards with pictures of situations using I and Me properly. As a former High School English teacher, I will attest to the need for this app for just about every student, even me sometimes!

Quick Tip: 

Have you ever shortened a URL to make it easier for students to type in? You can do this with ANY web address. There are many options, but I like to Google route because it will save all of your past shortened URLs for you when you are signed in with your Google ID. Here are the steps: 

1) Copy the URL you want to shorten. 

2) Open up this link in a new window or tab: http://goo.gl/

3) Paste the URL you want to shorten in the box. 

4) Click on the blue button, shorten URL. 

5) Your new URL will appear in the box and look something like this: http://goo.gl/3w5qc 

Please let me know if you have any questions and I will do the best I can to help you. Have a great weekend!